San Jose earns 30th victory of the season in just its 40th
game
EDMONTON, ALBERTA
Patrick Marleau and the San Jose Sharks put a loss in Calgary behind them in a hurry with a milestone victory.
Marleau had two goals, Devin Setoguchi added a goal and two assists and the Sharks hit the 30-win mark in their 40th game, beating Edmonton 4-1 on Friday night.
Brad Staubitz also scored for the Sharks, 5-1-2 in their last eight and 30-5-5 overall. With the victory, San Jose also regained the NHL overall lead from Boston.
“We don’t look at it is as 30, or 31 or 32, we look at it as the input into the game, the process and did we compete hard enough,” coach Todd McLellan said. “It was more rewarding that way than the win itself. Playoffs are a long ways away.
“What we are trying to do right now is build so that we are prepared to play these type of games night in and night out.”
McLellan was impressed that captain Marleau help the Sharks get back on track following a 5-2 loss in Calgary.
“He wasn’t happy with the effort the other night,” McLellan said. “He takes a huge leadership role in making sure the team is prepared. If he’s not playing that way probably most of the other team isn’t so I was really happy with him.”
Denis Grebeshkov scored for the Oilers.
“I thought we were making progress up until a couple games ago,” Oilers coach Craig MacTavish said. “There is no end to the criticism you could direct at your team after a game like that. It was a disappointing effort on a lot of fronts.”
The Oilers’ players held a closed-door meeting after the game.
“We have to be able to find a way to prepare and come out and play with emotion every night,” alternate captain Steve Staios said. “That’s been lacking in this room.
“Whether we win or lose we have to do it in the fashion we are used to and that hasn’t been happening for a while here. Since I have been here we have had some down times but we have always been able to find a way to bring back the type of game that is Oiler-type hockey that is passion and energy. We haven’t had that so far this year. We’ve just had it in spurts.”
San Jose opened the scoring 8 minutes into the first period on a power play, with Setoguchi firing a shot point that cleanly beat goalie Dwayne Roloson to the stick side for his 19th goal of the season.
Grebeshkov tied it 3 minutes later on a power play. Andrew Cogliano spotted Grebeshkov creeping in from the point and fed him a pass from behind the net that he deposited behind Nabokov.
The Sharks got a gift goal with 6 minutes to play in the first when Roloson whiffed on a glove save attempt and it wafted into the net. It was Staubitz’s first career NHL goal, and came in his hometown.
Roloson allowed a goal on another shot he would like to have back with just 35 seconds to play in the period when Marleau snapped a wrist shot into the top corner for his 20th of the season and a 3-0 lead.
Mathieu Garon replaced Roloson at the start of the second.
San Jose took a three-goal lead with the lone tally in the second period as Marleau picked up his second of the night, converting a long feed from Joe Pavelski on the power play.
Notes:
Edmonton lost All-Star defenseman Sheldon Souray in the second period because of an upper-body injury. … Sharks defenseman Rob Blake recorded his 500th career assist on Marleau’s first-period goal.
